Article published In:
English World-WideVol. 43:3 (2022) ► pp.297–329
Exploring age-related changes in the realisation of (t)
Panel research from Tyneside
An understanding of linguistic heterogeneity in older speakers is crucial for the study of language variation and change. To date, intra-speaker malleability in older populations remains under-researched, in varieties of English and more generally. This paper contributes panel data to the question of how aging individuals engage with ongoing changes in the realisation of (t) in the Tyneside region in the North-East of England. We examine the variable ways in which six speakers recorded in their 20s/30s and re-interviewed in their 60s/70s adapt to community-wide change. The finding that some speakers exhibit malleability in their variable realisation of (t) substantiates a life-course perspective over a strict maturational explanation. More specifically, our analysis explores the contribution of long-term (in)stability to lifespan-specific identity construction in the Tyneside area. Our findings support calls for the incorporation of sophisticated statistical methods in combination with social constructivist approaches into panel research on older age populations.
Keywords: panel research, North East England, Tyneside, aging, older speakers, change across the lifespan, glottaling, glottalisation
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.The Tyneside speech community and our speaker sample
- 3.The realisation of (t)
- 4.Materials and methods
- 4.1Token extraction and definition of the envelope of variation
- 4.2The regression analysis
- 5.Exploring the use of (t) between middle and old age
- 5.1The cohort as a whole
- 5.2The socially stable speakers
- 5.3The socially and geographically unstable speakers
- 6.Conclusion
- Acknowledgements
- Notes
-
References
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